Eclipse
by SetThisWorldOnFire
Summary: It was certainly strange, finding his life as a Video Game, and he wondered just why he had this power. But this was his chance to become a Huntsman, and he wouldn't waste it. He is Jaune Arc, and the world would be Eclipsed by his legend.
1. I: The Game

**This is another story I wrote down in a fit of inspiration after the huge influx of gamer fics that I read. I thought I'd give it a go myself, though this was awhile ago. This one has 2 chapterse, so hopefully it will give you all something to read while I figure out how to continue Ashes to Ashes.**

 **Summary:** **It was certainly strange, finding his life as a Video Game, and he wondered just why he had this power. But this was his chance to become a Huntsman, and he wouldn't waste it. He is Jaune Arc, and the world would be Eclipsed by his legend.**

* * *

 **I: The Game**

 **["The Gamer" Jaune Arc]** **  
** **Level 8**

As fifteen year old Jaune stared at those words in the mirror of the bathroom, he wondered if this was sort of hallucination. It didn't make any sense after all, that he was seeing his own name in the mirror along with some sort of title and a Level.

"That's it, no more video games before bed," Jaune muttered to himself, before shaking his head. "Oh who am I kidding? Video games are too awesome to just stop…"

Sighing, Jaune walked back into his room, pinching the bridge of his nose. "It was just you seeing things Jaune," he told himself as he sat down on his bed, and began to look around for his clock. "Now what time is it?" he wondered aloud, before suddenly, numbers popped up in front of his face.

 **[08:43]**

"...I'm just hallucinating," he told himself, laughing nervously as he opened the draw remembering he kept his scroll there. "After all, there's absolutely no way that-" he was cut off as he saw the time on the scroll. It was the same as the number on the screen in front of him right now.

Jaune swallowed slowly. "Okay…" he mumbled. "Maybe there IS some sort of truth. B-but if this were a game, there'd be some sort of tutorial righ-"

 **[Would you like to view the Tutorial?]** **  
** **Yes/No**

He stared blankly at the window and rubbed his eyes slowly before staring at it again. "…Of course," he sighed. "I guess I might as well check…no harm in doing that…r-right?" he gulped a little at the possible prospect, before he slowly reached out and hit the 'Yes.' As soon as he did, the screen vanished and a new window appeared before his eyes.

 **[Welcome to the Game! As you have probably noticed,you have been seeing strange windows, and when you make little requests windows pop up with a solution of sorts! The reason for this is that your life has become a video game! Why you ask? Well, now that's something you'll just have to discover for yourself! During this tutorial, you shall be taught the basic functions and principles of The Game, though how you play it is up to you.]**

"That's…actually fairly straight forward," Jaune mumbled. "Though it didn't have to be a jerk! I'd love to know where I got this weird power…" The dialogue box promptly ignored him and continued.

 **[Let's start off nice and easy! The kind of game you are playing is known as an RPG, which means you have various stats, a title system, a name, along with a race and your name. You may view all of these by simply saying the word 'Status,' and you may also view the current amount of money you have! Well what are you waiting for? Go ahead and try it out!]**

Jaune raised an eyebrow. "This game is kinda childish…eh what the heck. Status!" As soon as he said that, a new window opened up in front of him, showing just what the game said it would.

 **[Status]**

 **Name: Jaune Arc** **  
** **Main Title: The Gamer** **  
** **Sub Title: None** **  
** **Race: Human** **  
** **Level: 8 (0/1600)** **  
** **HP: 950/950** **  
** **AP: 0/0** **  
** **Strength: 4** **  
** **Dexterity: 2** **  
** **Vitality: 6** **  
** **Intelligence: 2** **  
** **Wisdom: 3** **  
** **Charisma: 0** **  
** **Luck: 3** **  
** **Stat Points: 24** **  
** **Lien: 5**

Jaune's jaw dropped as he looked at his stats. "Why the heck is my Charisma zero!? And my Intelligence is two!? What's AP!? Am I really that dumb!?"

 **[By understanding your own faults, your Intelligence has increased by 1!]**

The blonde's eye twitched violently as he saw that window pop up. "…You're just messing with me now aren't you?" he demanded, at which the game once again chose to ignore him and continue with the tutorial, much to his irritation.

 **[You will now be given a description of each stat, and how they may benefit you!**

 **Strength - The stat that represents a person's physical power. Used to determine how strong they are, and aids in reducing damage when blocking.**

 **Dexterity - The stat that represents a person's physical nimbleness. Used to determine fine motor skills, reaction time, and aiming.**

 **Vitality - The stat that represents a character's overall health, and how well their growth is, and can be increased by enduring incredibly powerful blows. As you gain points to this stat, your health is slightly increases.**

 **1 VIT = 25 HP**

 **Intelligence - The stat representing how smart a character is. Used to show how skilled a person is, how quickly they learn, how fast they can solve problems, and so on. Increasing this stat also helps increase your overall AP.**

 **1 INT = 25 AP**

 **Wisdom - The stat representing a person's intuition and street-smarts. Used to determine a character's perception, willpower, and decision-making skills.**

 **Charisma - The stat representing a person's force of personality. Used to determine how well someone can influence others by speeches, diplomacy, fear, lying. This stat also affects your looks to a mild degree, enhancing how you are seen in the eyes of other people.**

 **Luck - This stat represents the force that seems to operate for good or ill in a person's life. Used to determine your chances of problems arising during events, gambling, card games, and so on. It also increases the chance of getting higher ranked items from enemy drops, and the chances of getting a critical hit.**

 **Stats can be increased manually by performing things that would increase your stats outside of the game. For example, reading a book might increase intelligence, or lifting weights will increase your strength.**

 **Also, different titles will give you different benefits. Your current title "The Gamer" will increase the amount of experience you and your skills get until level 20, after which it shall only help increase the level of non-combat active skills.**

 **As you level in the game, you shall gain 100 HP and 50 AP for every level you gain, as well as three stat points per level.]**

Jaune read through each of the stats slowly to be sure he understood them. "So…in other words, I guess what I'll want to increase first is my Intelligence and my Wisdom, so I can learn more and make good choices with the rest of my stats…right?"

 **[By coming up with a good plan for your future, your Wisdom has increased by 1!]**

He immediately covered his eyes and groaned. "Yeah, this is definitely messing with me now. Whatever just…hurry and move on, please."

 **[Next up, your skills and abilities! You can gain various skills throughout the game, some good, some bad, and everything in between! Each skill has a level to show your mastery at it, Level MAX being the highest you can possibly reach. You may view this at any time by saying 'Skill List.']**

He rolled his eyes a little as he read through that. A bit simplistic, but he guessed he understood at least. "Skill List!"

 **[Skills]**

 **[Gamer's Body (Passive) - Level MAX]**

 **Allows the user's life to be lived as a video game (user will receive no real damage from attacks, will only feel pain depending on the power of the attack.) Sleeping in various environments will restore a different amount of HP, AP, and status effects. Sleeping in a bed restores HP, AP to their full amount, and removes all Status effects.**

 **[Gamer's Mind (Passive) - Level MAX]**

 **Allows the user to think things through calmly and logically. Allows a peaceful state of mind, and makes user immune to psychological status effects.**

 **[Cooking (Passive) - Level 8 (83.42%)]**

 **Determines how good the user can make food. The higher the level, the better you can cook. Can be increased by successfully making food, the amount of experience gained depends on the level of food being cooked.** **  
** **Increases chance to successfully make a Level 1 Meal by 88%. Increases chance to successfully make a Level 2 Meal by 32%** **  
** **1% chance to have a crazy idea for a meal.**

 **[Swordsmanship (Passive) - Level 1 (53.64%)]**

 **Determines how well the user can wield a sword. The higher the level, the better with a sword you are. You can increase this by training with your sword, or levelling Sword Skills.** **  
** **Increases damage from Sword Skills by 1%. Increases experience gained to Sword Skills by 1%.**

 **[Unarmed Combat (Passive) - Level 3 (19.71%)]**

 **A skill for determining how well you can fight without a weapon. Can be levelled by training with no weapon, or levelling up Unarmed Skills.** **  
** **Increases damage from Unarmed Skills by 3%. Increases experience gained to Unarmed Skills by 3%.**

Jaune frowned lightly as he looked at his skills. He didn't have many skills, he'd have to change that in future. At least his cooking wasn't too bad…probably. But his swordsmanship was atrocious! He'd have to really start training to fix that…

"Gamer's mind," he mumbled as he stared at the skill. "That must be what's making me not freak out about this so much. A normal person would have screamed, or panicked. But with Gamer's Mind, I'll be able to think calmly…that's good. And Gamer's Body will let me shake off things like broken bones in a day, which is useful."

Shaking his head, he watched as another window popped up in front of his face.

 **[Not a lot of skills, huh? But that's to be expected, you are just starting out the game! To help you out, you will be granted a new Skill!]**

 **[You have gained the Skill 'Observe.']**

He blinked as the new skill appeared on his list, and he hurried, quickly reading through it to see just what it did.

 **[Observe (Active) - Level 1 (00.00%)**

 **A skill to observe the target's information. The higher the level, the more information you see. If the level of the target is at least twenty levels higher, you can only see their name. Can be levelled through repeated use.** **  
** **Level 1: Can see the target's Max HP, Max MP, and limited information.]**

"Huh, that's pretty useful," Jaune mumbled. "But twenty levels higher? That's a pretty specific thing…though even that's kinda useful, but because it means they are at least 20 levels higher than I am. So right now…twenty-eight."

 **[By seeing the full use of a skill, your Intelligence has increased by 1!]**

 **[By determining how to use even the faults of a skill, your Wisdom has increased by 1!]**

"This game is mean," Jaune groaned out, leaning back on his bed, before another dialogue box appeared in front of him.

 **[There are more systems you can access, however you must reach certain level requirements to be able to reach them, so we will skip past them and come back when you reach the requirements. For now, it is time we begin your first quest!]**

Jaune blinked, tilting his head. "Wha-"

"Jaune!" he heard his mother call him, and his gaze shifted to the door in confusion. "Could you wake up your sisters while I cook breakfast?" as soon as she said that, a new box appeared in front of him.

 **[Quest: Awaken the family!]**

 **Description: Wake up your seven sisters before your mother finishes cooking dinner! This is a recurring quest. Time Limit: 10 Minutes.**

 **First time Reward:** **  
** **-500 Exp** **  
** **-New Skill Book** **  
** **-Accessory Item**

 **Completion Reward:** **  
** **-100 Exp** **  
** **-Reputation increase with Emilia Arc** **  
** **-Reputation increase with Jonathan Arc**

 **Failure:** **  
** **-10 Exp** **  
** **-Reputation decrease with Emilia Arc** **  
** **-Reputation decrease with Jonathan Arc**

 **Accept? Yes/No**

Jaune blinked in surprise at the sight of the quest, and he hesitantly hit 'yes' all while one thought ran through his mind.

 _Did…did the game just control my mother to give me this quest?_

Frowning, he shook his head. He had time to think about that later. For now, he had a quest to complete, though he'd be keeping a careful eye on the game from now on. He wouldn't let it control his mother, or any member of his family like that!

Slowly climbing out of bed, he decided he'd better start with his oldest sister, Cecilia. She was the least likely to be angry at him for waking her up. Walking to her door- painted green- he knocked on it twice. "Cecilia! Time to wake up, mom's making breakfast!"

He waited and heard a light groan from inside. "Thanks Jaune," his sister's voice came. "I'll be done in a minute."

Smiling, Jaune turned and headed to the next door. He hoped Alice wouldn't cause too many problems.

 **~~Eclipse~~**

 **[Quest Complete!]**

 **You gained 600 Exp!** **  
** **You gained the Skill Book "Aura: The Light of Our Souls!"** **  
** **You gained the accessory "Sun Pendant!"** **  
** **Your reputation increased with Emilia Arc!** **  
** **Your reputation increased with Jonathan Arc!**

 **Skill Book has been transferred to Inventory** **  
** **"Sun Pendant" has been transferred to Inventory**

Jaune sat at the table with his seven sisters and his father, while now nursing a black eye, and his youngest sister profusely apologising. Jaune was glad his Vitality was at six, or he might have taken that a lot worse.

 **[Due to enduring much pain, you have obtained the skill 'Pain Tolerance!']**

 **[Due to enduring a powerful blow, you have obtained the skill 'Physical Endurance!']**

Oh this game was just trying to make him angry now, he just knew it! At least the two skills he'd just obtained were useful.

"I'm so sorry Jauney!" his youngest sister, Alice continued to apologise.

"It's fine," Jaune told her. Though that was a lie, it was most certainly _not_ fine, but he wouldn't tell her otherwise.

 **[You have developed the skill 'Lying' through a special act!]**

 **[Your Skill 'Lying' has levelled up!]**

He didn't want to feel guilty, why would the game do this to him? Damn it, now he felt like an ass. Though he guessed it would be a somewhat useful skill…

 **[By deciding a good choice for the future, your Wis-]**

He ignored the box, wishing he would just swipe it away right now but he couldn't, not with his family here in font of him. They'd think he was crazy!

"All done," his mother said as she walked into the room, setting down a large plate of bacon. "Everyone dig in!"

The group nodded and thanked her for the meal, before they began to eat. It was, as usual, delicious. His mother was an amazing cook, no doubt about it.

Like that, a light bulb went off in his head and he shifted his gaze to his mother and mumbled, "Observe." He was rewarded with a new screen appearing in front of him.

 **["The Flash" Emilia Arc]** **  
** **Level ?** **  
** **HP: ?/?** **  
** **AP: ?/?** **  
** **Information: ?**

Jaune's eyes widened slightly, though he wasn't too surprised. She was older and had more experience, so it was no surprise she was at least Level 28.

Taking a breath, Jaune finished off his Bacon and reached for just a bit more, while settling his game on his youngest sister and once more using Observe.

 **["The Youngest" Alice Arc]** **  
** **Level 17** **  
** **HP: 3200/3200** **  
** **AP: 4650/4650** **  
** **Information: The youngest child of Emilia and Jonathan Arc**

What the hell!? His little sister was nearly 10 levels higher than he was, and had over double his HP! Plus her AP was bloody huge! That was just…that quite frankly wasn't fair!

 **['Observe' has levelled up! You may now use 'Observe' on Objects]**

…Well that certainly helped up for this just a little bit. Jaune knew he'd be using Observe quite a bit, it was far too good a skill to NOT use it.

 _Wait, inventory?_ Responding to his thoughts, the game seemed happy to explain.

 **[Ah, noticed that little titbit of information? Took you a little while, but you did get there! Long story short, you have an Inventory that may store any item in there! Well, not any item. There are some things you cannot store in your inventory, and you cannot put people in their either. Items will say if they cannot be put in your inventory in their description. Go ahead and grab that Skill Book!]**

Jaune's eyes brightened and he was about to summon his inventory, but he stopped as he realised he was around his family. And he really didn't want to explain this ability to them, they'd probably just laugh at him or call him a liar. No, he'd need definite proof of this power's existence first.

And so he held back, it was better he kept this ability to himself for now, at least until he could prove it's existence.

 **[Due to making a good decision regarding the game , your Wisdom has increased by-]**

Jaune promptly ignored the notification and finished his breakfast. He stood up once he was done. "Thank you for the meal, mom," he said to her with a smile, before he turned and began to leave, before the voice of his older sister Olivia stopped him.

"Are you going upstairs to play those stupid games of yours again?" she demanded.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Jaune looked back at her with pure rage in his expression. Normally this wouldn't affect him, but he was very stressed at the moment with the idea of his mind becoming a video game, despite the help of gamer's mind. He was almost trying to channel his rage at her, a snarl on his lips. "You don't know a thing about me," he told her in an angry tone before he marched upstairs.

 **[A skill has been created through a special act! You have gained the Skill 'Killing Intent!']**

As Jaune slammed the door to his room closed and locked it, he felt his anger drain away at the sight of him having learned a new skill. Curious, he opened up his skill list and read about the skill.

 **[Killing Intent (Active) - Level 1 (00.00%)]**

 **A skill used to convey your desire to kill onto other people, can sometimes cause them to hallucinate. Can be levelled up by using it** **  
** **100% chance to intimidate people of lower levels. 50% chance to intimidate people of the same level. 10% chance to intimidate people of higher levels. Costs 10 AP per minute.** **  
** **Range: 10 meters**

Jaune paled a little at the implication of this skill. Had he…wanted to kill his sister? Surely not. No, he definitely he didn't, he was just mad.

Taking a breath, he moved all the windows that popped up during breakfast away and mumbled, "Inventory…" As soon as he spoke the words, a new window opened in front of him, mostly empty, save for his new accessory and Skill Book.

Reaching out hesitantly, he tapped the Skill Book and it suddenly appeared in his hands. Curious, he cast Observe on it to learn more about it.

 **[Skill Book: "Aura: The Light of Our Souls"]** **  
** **A book describing what aura is, it's uses, how it was first discovered, and how to unlock it in another person. Using this Skill Book will grant the Skill 'Aura.' Skill Book may only be used once.**

Jaune's eyes widened as he read that. He didn't know what this aura was, but he guessed it was what made huntsman…well, as strong as they were. Eager, he opened the book to start reading, only to be surprised as a new window popped up.

 **[Do you want to learn "Aura: The Light of Our Souls?"]** **  
** **Accept? Yes/No**

Gulping, Jaune lightly tapped the 'Yes' button. Immediately, the book burst into a shimmering blue light that flew into Jaune, filling his mind with knowledge he didn't know before, as a shining white glow surrounded his body. A new window popped up, and he also noticed he now had AP.

 **[You have learned the Skill 'Aura!']**

 **AP: 400/400**

As soon as that text popped up, another window appeared, furthering the tutorial.

 **[And just like that you've learned your first Skill from a Skill Book! Impressive, right? Throughout your quest, you will find a variety of Skill Books. Keep in mind some Skill Books require you to fulfil certain conditions before you may learn them. Why don't you go ahead and check our your new skill?]**

Grinning widely, Jaune opened up his Skill List and scrolled down until he found his new skill, though he also decided to read the 'lying' skill he'd gained earlier and had skipped over when he opened up his skill list a short while ago.

 **[Lying (Passive) - Level 1 (00.00%)]**

 **A skill used to determine how well you can tell a lie. Can be levelled up by lying successfully.** **  
** **10% chance your lie is successful, becomes less successful the more extravagant your lie**

 **[Aura (Passive & Active) - Level 1 (00.00%)]**

 **The light within the souls of man that gives them great power, but also makes the demonic beats known as Grimm more attracted to them. It is used for various means, though its main function is acting as a shield to protect the body. This can be levelled up through meditation.** **  
** **Passively increases Strength by 30%. Passively increases Dexterity by 30%. Passively increases Vitality by 40%. Cost of unlocking another person's Aura: 90% of Max AP. Increases AP by 100 per level to Aura.**

The blonde's jaw promptly dropped as he read about just how powerful Aura was. Just passive at Level 1 increased all his physical stats by such a high amount, he could hardly believe it! He grinned widely, this gave him a huge advantage!

He blinked as another dialogue box popped up in front of him, and he hurried to read it.

 **[Now that you know about Skill Books, its time to teach you about Perks! At Level 1 you start with a single Perk point. Every 20 Levels you gain, you get 1 more Perk point. These perks may be used to gain Special Skills that you cannot gain through other means. Keep in mind some Perks require prerequisites, and it is also possible that some quests will give you perks that you cannot obtain through the perk system. You may access the Perk Menu by simply saying 'Perks.' Go ahead and try it out!]**

Nodding slowly as he read the text, Jaune said the word, "Perks," and watched as the new menu appeared in front of him.

 **[Perks]**

 **Current amount of Perk Points: 1**

 **[Blood of the Beast]**

 **By utilising the blood of Faunus, you may turn your own body into one at will. Is not limited to one, can be any kind of faunus as long as you have drunk at least one drop of their blood. (Requires to have consumed at least one drop of faunus Blood. Costs one Perk Point)**

 **[Tricks of Speed]**

 **Quick as a flash, you're so fast that its hard to actually touch you sometimes! This skill allows you to be able to do things such as run up walls, and dash at incredible speeds. At a high enough level, you can even jump in mid-air and move so fast you might as well be teleporting behind your opponent! (Requires base Dexterity at 150. Costs one Perk Point.)**

Jaune quickly stopped reading after the second perk, his jaw dropping. These perks were incredible, though it seemed like he needed his stats to be at quite a high level for some of them, so he would probably be better off working on those first. He closed the perk window and another popped up in front of him.

 **[And that concludes the basic tutorial! From here on out, you shall mostly be on your own. When you unlock another function in the game, a small tutorial shall be given on how to use it! If you require any assistance, you may review these things by saying 'Help' and selecting one of the options! Enjoy the game!]**

 **[For completing the tutorial, you have received the Sub Title: "Sun Child"]**

Smiling, Jaune closed the final tutorial dialogue box. "This is amazing," he said in awe, and he quickly opened up his status, wanting to check out this new title and his stats after the tutorial.

 **[Status]**

 **Name: Jaune Arc** **  
** **Main Title: The Gamer** **  
** **Sub Title: None** **  
** **Race: Human** **  
** **Level: 8 (600/1600)** **  
** **HP: 950/950** **  
** **AP: 500/500** **  
** **Strength: 4 + (30%)= 5.2** **  
** **Dexterity: 2 + (30%)= 2.6** **  
** **Vitality: 6 + (40%)= 8.4** **  
** **Intelligence: 4** **  
** **Wisdom: 7** **  
** **Charisma: 0** **  
** **Luck: 3** **  
** **Stat Points: 24** **  
** **Lien: 5**

Scratching the back of his head, Jaune frowned as he looked over his stats. Taking a deep breath, he already knew what he had to do. First, he put three points into his Wisdom to round it off at then he put six points into his Intelligence, three into his Vitality, and put three into both Strength and Dexterity. He put the remaining six points into Charisma.

Hitting the confirm button, his eyes widened as he _felt_ the changes in his body. He could feel muscle forming, his body feeling just a bit lighter and more agile, along with his body getting tougher. He could feel his mind sharpen and become clearer than before. He looked over his new stats.

 **[Status]**

 **Name: Jaune Arc** **  
** **Main Title: The Gamer** **  
** **Sub Title: None** **  
** **Race: Human** **  
** **Level: 8 (600/1600)** **  
** **HP: 1025/1025** **  
** **AP: 650/650** **  
** **Strength: 7 + (30%)= 9.1** **  
** **Dexterity: 5 + (30%)= 6.5** **  
** **Vitality: 9 + (40%)= 13.6** **  
** **Intelligence: 10** **  
** **Wisdom: 10** **  
** **Charisma: 6** **  
** **Luck: 3** **  
** **Stat Points: 0** **  
** **Lien: 5**

He grinned a little as he saw his stats were a bit more balanced, that would definitely help him in the long run. At that point, a thought occurred to him. He could use more stat points when he got them, but wouldn't it be better to raise it manually?

Deciding that this would be the best idea, he got down and began to do push ups. After the tenth push up, a notification appeared before his eyes.

 **[By training your body, your Strength has gone up by 1!]**

He smiled happily at that, but frowned. Ten push ups meant that he was a lot weaker than he'd originally thought. Deciding that needed to be rectified, he began to do push ups like crazy, determined to go until he dropped to the ground. As he did, notifications continued to pop up in front of him.

 **[By training your body, your Strength has gone up by 1!]**

 **[By training your body, your Strength has gone up by 1!]**

 **[By training your body, your Strength has gone up by 1!]**

Jaune collapsed after the 35th push up and the last notification box, panting lightly as he felt tired. Soon enough, another notification box popped up in front of him, only this one didn't deliver good news.

 **[By pushing your body too hard, you have gained the Status Effect 'Exhaustion(Low).' Time remaining: 30m]**

Frowning a little, he climbed onto his bed and lay back. Okay, it seemed that training TOO hard would cause status effects like this, and make it harder to work out. Deciding to not push his body too far, he hummed as he thought about what to do. Strength was good, but perhaps he should go about raising his intelligence? It might help him learn things faster, plus more AP.

But how would he go about doing that? Tilting his head in thought, he decided that reading books that he hadn't read before would likely help him raise that stat.

Slowly getting up, he headed downstairs and called back, "I'm going out for awhile," before he headed out the door and closed it behind him, heading towards the local Library. He hoped that comics would raise his Intelligence…

 **~~Eclipse~~**

Comic books didn't increase his Intelligence, which he realised after the fifth comic, but it did give him a new skill called 'Reading' which helped him in reading books faster.

Setting down the comic with a slight pout on his face, he headed over to the non-fiction section and grabbed a book on the history of the past. He'd always loved stories like that, stories about great heroes and warriors always got him excited and got his eyes to light up with joy.

As he walked back to a table to read, he stopped as he saw what appeared to be a section dedicated to martial arts techniques. He knew his Unarmed Skill was at three, so it couldn't hurt to see what martial arts he could learn, right?

Walking along, he read them all based on the spine of the book, before he saw what appeared to be a scroll, indicating the martial art was very old. Reaching out, he grabbed the scroll, only to jump back in surprise as a text box opened up in front of him.

 **[You have obtained the Skill Book "** **Hēi** **L** **óng** **'s Two Thousand Years!"]**

 **Would you like to learn this skill? Yes/No**

Jaune's eyes widened in shock, and he quickly mashed the 'Yes' button without even thinking of the consequences. Luckily for him, a new window popped up in front of him.

 **[Prerequisites not met!]** **  
** **Requires: 20 base Strength, 30 base Dexterity.**

He frowned lightly as he read that. That meant he was quite a ways away from being able to learn the martial art. Suddenly his eyes widened as he realised what he'd been about to do. He looked around for any cameras or people, but the Library was rather empty at the moment.

He looked around slowly, and hesitated. There was no cameras that were able to see him, and he gulped. _Well this…is just going to waste, sitting here. Th-they won't notice it's gone…right?_

Looking around and feeling himself being wrecked by guilt, he slowly opened up his inventory and slipped the scroll into it. He pulled his hand out to see it sitting there, along with a new dialogue box that told him of a new skill.

 **[Through a special act, you have created the skill 'Stealing!']**

Jaune slouched a little, not at all proud of this new skill. But he steeled himself, it was all for the sake of becoming a Huntsman. He walked out to a table and sat down, opening up the history book and he began to read, being sure to take in every detail so he could up his Intelligence stat.

 **[By widening your knowledge, your Intelligence has increased by 1!]**

 **[Reading's Level increased by 1!]**

 **[Reading's Level increased by 1!]**

 **[Reading's Level increased by 1!]**

 **[By widening your knowledge, your Intelligence has increased by 1!]**

It took 3 hours, but by the time he finished the book, he had managed to increase his Reading to Level 6 (the previous 3 levels having come from comic books), and increased his Intelligence to twelve. With a smile, he returned the book and began to run home as fast as he could,, since it was a ten minute walk from his house to the Library, he decided he should hurry. He blinked in surprise as two notifications popped up.

 **[Through a Special Act, you have created the skill 'Sprint']**

 **[You have pushed your speed to the limit, increasing your Dexterity by 1!]**

A wide grin came across his lips as he continued to run faster and faster, trying to push his speed to the limit and increase his dexterity. After all, he wanted to learn that martial art, and that required thirty dexterity.

Two more notifications told him his Dexterity had gone up by the time he got home, along with him being told he'd gotten a single level to Sprint.

Walking into the house, he yelled, "I'm home!" in return, he received a chorus of welcomes from his family, except Olivia who gave him a glare. He just ignored it and headed up to his room.

As soon as he walked in, he opened up his status and looked over it, though what he saw surprised him slightly.

 **[Status]**

 **Name: Jaune Arc** **  
** **Main Title: The Gamer** **  
** **Sub Title: None** **  
** **Race: Human** **  
** **Level: 8 (1280/1600)** **  
** **HP: 1025/1025** **  
** **AP: 700/700** **  
** **Strength: 11 + (30%)= 14.3** **  
** **Dexterity: 8 + (30%)= 10.4** **  
** **Vitality: 9 + (40%)= 13.6** **  
** **Intelligence: 12** **  
** **Wisdom: 10** **  
** **Charisma: 6** **  
** **Luck: 3** **  
** **Stat Points: 0** **  
** **Lien: 5**

"Why did my experience go up?" he wondered allowed, frowning as he tried to think of just why that happened. He gently brushed his status to the side, but didn't close it, and then opened his Skill List and carefully looked through his skills.

Then it suddenly hit him, his eyes widening. "Oh, that's it! Whenever I level a skill, I get experience, and I also seem to get experience for making the skill in the first place! I guess I didn't get any for Killing Intent because it was the tutorial or something…"

 **[By deducting how the experience system works, your Intelligence has gone up by 1!]**

He waved the notification aside and frowned lightly since that kind of sucked. He wanted that exp for learning how to use Killing Intent, dang it! But regardless, he pressed on. Deciding he should learn more about the titles, he tapped his 'The Gamer' title to see just what it did.

 **[Main Titles]**

 **"The Gamer"**

 **The title that shows you are the gamer and live your life as a video game!** **  
** **Doubles experience gained up to Level 20. Doubles skill experience up to Level 20. Increases skill experience by 1.5x after Level 20.**

Jaune nodded slowly as he read that, since it made sense. It was sort of like an experience booster, and the game likely expected him to have more titles by the time he reached Level twenty, which did make perfect sense. He hoped he got some great titles in the future, a small smile appearing on his lips at the thought. He quickly shook his head and tapped on 'Sub Title,' since he recalled the game giving him one.

 **[Sub Titles]**

 **"Sun Child"**

 **Blessed by the light, the sun shall guide your path through your journey. But be wary, the path of the Sun can easily be strayed from to the path of darkness.** **  
** **Increases Strength, Wisdom, and Charisma by 10%**

Blinking slowly at the title, he was somewhat confused by it. It was a rather ominous description for the title, but it seemed to be pretty good as it increased three of his stats. With that in mind, he equipped it, knowing it would be a great help to him until he got some better Sub Titles to use.

He then re-opened his inventory and took out the 'Sun Pendant' he'd received from the tutorial. It was a beautiful thing, with a simple white chain as the necklace, and the pendant itself being a small white orb with several ambers embed into it, making it have a sun-like pattern. It brought a smile to his face just looking at it.. He cast Observe to see just what it did.

 **[Sun Pendant]**

 **A simple thing, but beautiful in its elegance. It is said to bring joy and hope to those who see it.** **  
** **Increases Strength, Wisdom, and Charisma by 5%.**

Smiling at the description and its effects, Jaune looked back to his inventory space, only to notice there was also a screen beside it that showed him as he was, with several arrows pointing to areas on his body, and showing the clothing he was wearing in boxes. Several boxes were empty, indicating that's where other things were meant to go.

"Oh I see," Jaune chuckled. The inventory was also his equip menu. He slipped the pendant back into his inventory and dragged it onto the box pointing to his neck. As soon as he dropped it onto the box, it appeared around his neck. He quickly tucked it under his shirt, best not have his family asking questions where he got this stuff. They might think he stole it.

Jaune stretched, hearing his bones crack and groan lightly as he did so. He wondered if he was strong enough to face a Grimm now? With nearly all his physical stats being at 10, he felt like he might be able to face a low level Grimm. It appeared the game wanted to know too, as a new quest appeared in front of him.

 **[Quest: Against The Darkness!]**

 **Description: There is a time in every Huntsman's life when they must fight against the darkness, a creature of Grimm. And now it is your turn. Head to the forest and kill at least one Grimm!**

 **Reward: 1000 Exp**

 **Failure: Death**

 **Accept? Yes/No**

A gulp echoed throughout the room. That was…a very hefty price for failure, but it made sense. If he failed, he would die, there was no question about that. He hesitated for only a moment before he reached out and accepted the quest. He knew that this would be dangerous…still, he'd do his best! He couldn't risk dying so soon!

Slowly standing up, he headed downstairs and grabbed Crocea Mors, slipping it onto his waist. He looked at his mother as she began to cook lunch. "Mom, I'm going out again. I don't know when I'll be back, so do you think you could save me some food, please?"

Emilia Arc looked towards her son and gave him a smile. "Sure thing. Where are you going?"

"Just out to do some training," he told her. "If I want to pass the Beacon entrance exam, I'll need to make sure my skills are good." It wasn't a lie, technically speaking this was training, but it just wasn't the whole truth. He didn't know how his mother would react to him saying he was going out to fight Grimm.

His mother observed him carefully, and for a moment he thought she realised that he'd only told her a half truth. But eventually she just smiled and turned away, "Okay, stay safe Jaune."

All Jaune could do was nod and bow his head as he left the house. His family lived not quite in Vale, just on its outskirts, near a large forest. He walked towards that forest, infested with so many Grimm that one might think it was a breeding ground for them. That was where he'd face his first Grimm. But he wouldn't go too deep into the woods, he didn't want to get in over his head fighting Grimm.

Stopping just outside the forest, he looked over it slowly. This was his last chance to turn back, he knew it. Once he stepped into that forest, he was going to have to stay in there until he killed at least one Grimm. But he couldn't stop here. He'd come this far, and it was time he got out there. He pulled Crocea Mors out of its sheath, and turned the sheath into a shield, holding it tightly. Taking a deep breath, he forged on into the woods.


	2. II: Crimson Eyes

**II: Crimson Eyes**

The air was still in the depths of the forest, as if nature itself was feeling tense. The tree leaves sat still, almost unnervingly so. They didn't even give the slightest twitch, as if horrified at the prospect of movement. The sun was covered by thick, gray storm clouds. At that moment, darkness reigned supreme over the forest, without a hint of doubt.

Throughout the forest, growls almost echoed, and blood red eyes could be peering through every bush, from every distance. Creatures that wanted nothing more than the destruction of humanity loomed, waiting for something. Nothing particular, just waiting for a human to wander into their midsts.

Jaune took deep breaths as he walked through the forest. He had yet to even walk very far into the forest, and yet he could already _feel_ the danger in the air. He knew that wasn't a good sign, but he continued to press on, his eyes darting around and his ears staying open, trying to catch even a hint of movement.

And soon enough it appeared in the form of a a snarling Beowulf. It leapt out in front of him and skidded to a halt, letting out a low growl as it glared at him. It was rather small compared to other Beowulf, indicating it was still actually quite young, but it didn't lessen the hatred it felt towards Jaune, or reduce how sharp its claws and fangs were. It let out a low growl as its red eyes fixed on Jaune's form. Even if he did try to run, it would do its best to catch him.

Jaune took a breath and readied his sword, holding up his shield as he returned the Beowulf's glare with as much intensity as he could muster. "Observe," he whispered under his breath, hoping to get some information on what he was about to fight.

 **["Terror in the Night" Beowulf]**

 **Race: Grimm** **  
** **Level: 13** **  
** **HP: 2500/2500** **  
** **AP: 0/0**

 **Information: A demonic beast known as a Grimm, specifically of the Beowulf species. It's best attribute is its speed.** **  
** **  
**At that moment, the blonde would freely admit he'd never been more grateful for the Observe skill than just then. Knowing that it was best at being fast really helped him plan out his strategy.

Holding his shield closer to his body, he observed the Beowulf carefully, trying to notice even the smallest twitch in its body. Of course, he wouldn't be able to do that just yet since he was inexperienced, but he hoped that his sight was good enough to the point he could at least get a good glimpse of its movements.

There was a tense silence in the air, before a roar ripped from the Beowulf's throat and it charged forwards towards Jaune. It was fast, no doubt about that, but Jaune knew he could react to it. He brought his shield up and blocked its claw, before he swung his sword towards the beast's head, hoping for an easy kill against it.

Sadly, it was not to be, as the Beowulf leapt back, dodging the slash, before it charged in again while Jaune was off balance from his swing, its mouth open wide and its other arm reared back for another swipe at him.

Jaune's eyes widened as he realised he wouldn't be able to dodge it. So he went for the next best thing, partially dodging it. He followed through with the momentum from his swing, letting himself roll out of the way, though he hissed in pain as one of the claws hit his leg, causing a gash to appear on it. And boy did it hurt.

 **HP -200**

It seemed the game agreed with him. That one hit had robbed him of a fourth of his HP. That meant he could only take three more hits like that before he was dead. He'd have to hope his attacks did more damage to the Beowulf than the Beowulf did to him.

Getting up quickly and readying his shield, he barely had time to block the Beowulf's attack, but this time he wouldn't let the same thing repeat. Instead of going for a swing at its head, he tried to stab it in the stomach as fast as he could.

And he was rewarded with a howl of pain echoing in the forest from the Beowulf's lips as Crocea Mors buried itself into the beasts stomach. Jaune glanced at it, only to watch as its HP began to lower.

 **HP: 2400/2500**

Jaune cursed as he pulled his sword back and pulled away from the Grimm. It seemed that it had a better defence than he was hoping for, despite his Strength sitting at over 14 with all his bonuses.

Thankfully, it seemed the Beowulf needed a moment to recover from the pain. Idly, Jaune wondered if this was the first time the Beowulf had felt pain, or been hurt. Shaking his head of those thoughts, he kept his eyes focused on it. He gripped his sword tightly, tensing his arm.

Snapping out of its stupor, the Beowulf just seemed more angry than before and leapt at Jaune, fully intending to rip Jaune to shreds.

He simply stood there, waiting…waiting…waiting…

As the Beowulf was within a few feed of him, Jaune moved into action. He thrust his shield forward, causing his arm to get rattled as he slammed his shield straight into the beast's face, causing it to roar in pain, and also temporarily stunning it as it lost another hundred HP. Using the opportunity, Jaune swung his sword at it with all his might.

He miscalculated his swing, not taking the Grimm's head off, but instead he left a very nasty looking gash across its chest. To Jaune's surprise, the attack did 110 points of damage, rather than just a hundred. A new indicator that appeared in front of him revealed just why he did.

 **[You have gained the skill 'Power Strike' through a special act!]**

A grin lit up on his face, one eye keeping on the Grimm in pain, and the other focusing on his HP and AP. He saw that he'd lost thirty of his AP, meaning that this new skill cost him that much. With twelve-hundred AP, he'd be able to do it plenty.

He refocused his gaze on the Grimm, that had now recovered, and gave it a grin as he reared his arm back, ready to swing again. He let out a yell as he charged towards it, and it did so in turn. "Power Strike!" he snapped, blocking its claw with his shield before Crocea Mors glowed a light golden color as he swung his sword, causing the Beowulf to get another nasty gash across its chest.

 **Critical hit! HP -260!**

 **HP: 1930/2500**

Jaune didn't question his luck in getting a critical hit like that, knowing he got lucky. He backed up, panting lightly, and his eyes widened as he realised what was going on. He was getting tired. He wasn't trained for fights like this, something he'd have to fix as soon as possible. He knew he'd have to do his best to finish this fight in just one shot, which meant he'd have to aim for the neck.

Standing tall and ready, he watched as the Beowulf charged towards him, the fury visible in its eyes. However this time it kept a close eye on his shield, as if preparing for the same tactic as before.

Taking a breath, Jaune waited for it to draw closer. Thirty feet…twenty feet…ten feet…five…NOW!

Jaune ducked down and snapped out, "Power Strike!" swinging his sword in deadly arc as the Beowulf flew over his body. There was a pained scream before the only sound Jaune could hear was the Beowulf's body rolling across the dirt, before skidding to a halt.

 **Death Blow! Instant Kill!**

 **HP: 0/2500**

 **[Power Strike's level has increased by 1!]**

The notification that appeared in front of Jaune's eyes told him that his plan had worked. He took a shaky breath as he slowly stood up, slowly looking back, only to see the Beowulf's decapitated body and head starting to dissipate into the air, as if it had never existed at all.

 **You defeated 1x Beowulf!** **  
** **You have gained 500 Exp! Exp has been doubled due to your main title!** **  
** **You have gained 100 Lien!** **  
** **You have gained "Beowulf's Claw" x3! Item has been transferred to inventory.** **  
** **You have gained "Beowulf's Tooth" x2! Item has been transferred to inventory.** **  
** **Your level has gone up by one!** **  
** **Max HP +100** **  
** **Max AP +50**

The string of notifications made Jaune sigh in relief as he slowly took a seat, feeling very drained just from that one encounter. He knew he could have very easily died during that fight, so he was glad the Beowulf was young and didn't have very much intelligence.

 **[Quest Complete!]**

 **You have gained 1000 Exp! Exp has been doubled due to your main title!**

 **Secret Bonus!** **  
** **Description: Kill the Grimm with a Death Blow!** **  
** **You have gained 1000 Exp! Exp has been doubled due to your main title!** **  
** **You have gained the Skill Book "Darkness Claw!"** **  
** **Your 'Swordsmanship' Skill has gone up one level!** **  
** **Your level has gone up by two!** **  
** **Max HP +200** **  
** **Max AP +100**

Jaune blinked in surprise at the quest notification. So there were secret bonuses he could get in some quests? That was interesting, and he wasn't complaining either. Rather he was giddy, he'd ended up levelling three times just from that one fight and clearing the quest. He hastily opened his Status.

 **[Status]**

 **Name: Jaune Arc** **  
** **Main Title: The Gamer** **  
** **Sub Title: Sun Child** **  
** **Race: Human** **  
** **Level: 11 (960/4000)** **  
** **HP: 1125/1325** **  
** **AP: 250/850** **  
** **Strength: 11 + (45%)= 15.95** **  
** **Dexterity: 8 + (30%)= 10.4** **  
** **Vitality: 9 + (40%)= 13.6** **  
** **Intelligence: 12** **  
** **Wisdom: 10 (+15%)= 11.5** **  
** **Charisma: 6 (+15%)= 6.9** **  
** **Luck: 3** **  
** **Stat Points: 11** **  
** **Lien: 5**

"Huh? Why do I have 11 stat points?" Jaune sounded confused. Based on what his level being 8 before and him having 24 stat points, he should have gotten 3 stat points per level. Yet he had 11, which meant at some point he'd gotten five stat points instead of 3. His question was answered by a notification appearing in front of him.

 **[Every 10 levels, you will gain five stat points rather than three, as a gift for achieving a new milestone.]**

Jaune nodded slowly. "I guess that makes sense…so I have 11 stat points to use, what should I put them into…" he mused aloud as he rubbed his chin. Should he put the stat points into his strength and dexterity to try and learn the Skill Book he'd taken?

No, strength and dexterity were things he felt he could work up quite easily through training. Thinking it over, Jaune made his choice. He put two points into his dexterity to balance it out with the rest of his stats, put three points into both Wisdom and Intelligence, and put the remaining three points into his Luck.

A shudder ran through his body as he felt the new stats taking effect, and he grinned, embracing just how it felt to use stat points. Keeping those thoughts in mind, Jaune opened up his inventory and took out his new Skill Book.

 **[Would you like to learn 'Darkness Claw?']** **  
** **Yes/No?**

Tapping yes, Jaune watched as the book burst into particles and surged into his body, feeling the knowledge of the move and how to perform it entering his mind.

 **[You have learned 'Darkness Claw']**

He hurried and opened his Skill List to see just what this new skill was capable of, an eager grin on his lips as he did so, while also planning to check out Power Strike.

 **[Darkness Claw (Active) - Level 1 (00.00%)]**

 **A devastating strike unleashed by utilizing the power of darkness. Ethereal claws appear over the users hands, which they then use to tear across the opponent's body, dealing Dark and Physical damage.** **  
** **Applied to a physical attack, deals 120% damage. 10% chance to inflict the status effect 'Weaken' or 'Bleeding.'** **  
** **Cost: 100 AP**

 **[Power Strike (Active) - Level 2 (00.00%)]**

 **A powerful strike unleashed through use of a weapon.** **  
** **Applied to a physical attack, deals 133% damage.** **  
** **Cost: 100 AP**

Jaune let out a low whistle. Those were two very powerful skill, though confusion filled him at the sight of the status effects. Bleeding was self explanatory, but he was completely lost on just what the heck 'Weaken' was supposed to be. Curious, he tapped it, and a new text window opened up.

 **[Weaken]**

 **Anyone afflicted by this status effect shall have their strength reduced by 10% and shall take 1.2x more damage.**

The blonde let out a low whistle at that. Feeling he'd recovered enough, he stood up and looked around, before following the path he'd came out of the forest. He didn't want to hang around in case any more Grimm decided they wanted to avenge their fallen comrade.

 **~~Eclipse~~**

As Jaune returned to the house, he had expected a lot of things. He'd expected a 'welcome home' from his mother. He'd expected his father to be working on one of his little pet projects, as the man had a hobby of making unusual machines. He'd even expected some of his sister's to be downstairs.

What Jaune hadn't expected was for the house to be completely empty. As he walked in, he didn't hear the cooking, though he saw the covered food on the table that was no doubt for him, along with a note. Walking over to it, he picked it up and began to read what his mother had written, since his father's handwriting wasn't nearly that good.

 _'Have to take the girls out shopping, please clean the kitchen while we're gone. Love, mom.'_

 **[Quest: Kitchen Cleaning]**

 **Your parents have gone out shopping with your sisters, and it is your job to clean up the kitchen since they left in a rush! Clean up the kitchen, and be sure it's spotless.**

 **Reward: 500 Exp**

 **Failure: 100 Exp**

 **Time Limit: 3 hours**

 **Accept? Yes/No**

Jaune couldn't help but laugh lightly at the game creating a quest for something as simple as this, but he didn't complain. Instead he sat at the table and uncovered the sausages and mashed potato, smiling at the fact they were still rather hot. They must have only left a short awhile ago.

He pressed his hands together, offering a small prayer, before he began to eat his food. He took about 10 minutes to eat it. He might have taken longer, but he did want to be sure he finished the quest with a good amount of time to spare.

With his meal finished, he picked up his plate and cutlery and headed to the kitchen. He hummed softly as he began to wash the dishes with a small smile. He honestly didn't mind washing the dishes, it was somewhat therapeutic at times.

 **[Through a special act, you have gained the skill 'Dish Washing!']**

An amused snort came from Jaune's lips, though he did look at it curiously. A skill like this was something he should have already had when the game started, like cooking. Why on Earth would he not have it right away?

And more importantly, how the heck was he supposed to determine how much stamina he had!? He needed to know just how long he could fight or work out, it would be very helpful! But the game didn't seem to give that, which was dreadfully inconvenient for-

 **[System Update!]**

 **A new bar known as the 'Stamina Bar' has been added! The Stamina bar determines how long you may do certain acts, by steadily draining depending on the activity. Stamina points will be referred to as 'SP.'**

Jaune blinked as a new bar, this one orange, appeared underneath his AP bar in the small hud in the top left corner of his vision.

 **SP: 500/500**

"Wow…you're just messing with me huh?" Jaune grumbled under his breath. The game didn't respond, which was confirmation as far as good as confirmation as far as he was concerned.

Sighing, Jaune simply decided it was best to push past and continue to clean the kitchen. And clean he did, finishing within a good half an hour, leaving the place spotless. It helped he'd gotten a new cleaning skill that levelled up about six times. He'd had to do a _lot_ of cleaning.

 **[Quest Complete!]**

 **You have gained 500 exp! Exp has been doubled due to main title!**

 **Secret Bonus!** **  
** **Description: Complete the cleaning in half an hour!** **  
** **You have gained 500 Exp! Exp has been doubled due to main title!**

Jaune grinned to himself, pleased. Doing the math quickly in his head instead of checking his status, that meant his current exp was at three-thousand-six-hundred. He just needed another four-hundred to reach level twelve.

"Well I have two and a half hours until they get home," Jaune said to himself. "So I guess…I'll work on getting my Dexterity up to par, and getting my strength to a better level too…"

But just how was he supposed to increase his dexterity was the question. Perhaps by doing laps at a moderate pace rather than the speed required for sprint? No, that wouldn't work. Dexterity was all about speed, which meant he needed to be faster. Was there a way he could turn off skills perhaps?

Almost as soon as the thought came to mind, a new screen appeared in front of him.

 **[System Update!]**

 **You now have the ability to turn your passive skills on and off. You are unable to turn off Gamer's Mind and Gamer's Body.**

"Well…that's convenient," he said to himself as he opened up his skill list and scrolled down to 'Sprint.' He hesitated for just a moment, before he turned it off. He then headed to his room and shed his armour, favouring his lighter clothing for what he was about to do.

Heading outside, he looked at the reasonably sized house and slowly crouched down. He'd run laps around the house until his Stamina hit zero. "One…two…three!" he began to run around the house as fast as he could, trying to push beyond his limits.

 **[You have discovered a new level of 'speed,' causing your dexterity to go up by 1!]**

 **[You have discovered a new level of 'speed,' causing your dexterity to go up by 1!]**

 **[You have discovered a new level of 'speed,' causing your dexterity to go up by 1!]**

The notifications popped up what seemed to be ever 3 or so minutes, and he didn't let up for even a second. He wanted to get his dexterity as high as he could right now. Vitality, Charisma, and Luck were the only things he really seemed to need to increase with stats, so he'd be sure to increase all his other skills through grinding.

Finally, after half an hour of running, he came to a stop just as his stamina hit zero, panting heavily as he leaned against the house to try and catch his breath. His legs disagreed with this and he slid down to sit on the ground. "S-Status," he croaked out. He'd have to invest in a water bottle.

 **[Status]**

 **Name: Jaune Arc** **  
** **Main Title: The Gamer** **  
** **Sub Title: Sun Child** **  
** **Race: Human** **  
** **Level: 11 (3600/4000)** **  
** **HP: 900/1325** **  
** **AP: 725/925** **  
** **SP: 0/500** **  
** **Strength: 11 + (45%)= 15.95** **  
** **Dexterity: 20 + (35%)= 26** **  
** **Vitality: 9 + (40%)= 13.6** **  
** **Intelligence: 15** **  
** **Wisdom: 13 (+15%)= 14.95** **  
** **Charisma: 6 (+15%)= 6.6** **  
** **Luck: 6** **  
** **Stat Points: 0** **  
** **Lien: 105**

A grin made its way onto Jaune's face as he saw what his dexterity was sitting at now. While he had no doubt it was going to be a pain to increase from now on, he was glad he'd managed to work it to 20 somehow.

He shakily stood up and headed to the door, stumbling into the house and onto the sofa as he sighed with relief, propping his legs up on the arm of the couch as he rested his head on a pillow.

"Well, that's dexterity to a good level now," he mumbled to himself. He sometimes spoke his thoughts out loud while he was alone, it helped him keep concentrated. "Next I should focus on strength…maybe do the work out near the Library so I can head in soon after and get my Intelligence just a bit higher." It was a good plan, and his wisdom seemed to increase when-

 **[By coming up with a good plan for the future, your Wisdom has increased by 2!]**

Yep, there it was. Though having it increase by two just showed what a good idea he'd had. He grinned, pleased with himself, before he refocused on the issue of his stats. "Charisma and Luck seem to be the only things I'll have to invest points in, and both are pretty crucial things to increase, monster drops and being a convincing talker are useful after all…

"Next is the issue of skills…" Jaune grunted to himself as he opened his skill list. "The only skills I have that are at a…somewhat decent level are cooking, reading, and cleaning. While kinda useful, I need my more combat oriented skills to be a bit higher. Power swing will help with swordsmanship, and Darkness Claw will help with my unarmed combat skill. But I need more skills for both…"

Running a hand through his hair, he frowned. "Which means for unarmed combat I need to get my dexterity to thirty and my strength to twenty as quick as I can, so I can learn that scroll…no, best not focus on that. Observe also needs to be levelled, so I'll have to start using it a lot more. Not just on people or enemies, but on everything. I'll also have to start making weekly trips into the forest to kill Grimm and grind my level up a bit more. Eleven is nice, but Alice is still six levels higher than me…god, the others must be leaps and bounds higher than me…"

His eyes flicked over to his SP bar. It was sitting at 20 now, showing that he seemed to have been rambling on for awhile. Humming in thought, he knew he had roughly two hours until the family got home. What better way to recover his stamina than to lay back and watch cartoons, with nobody to berate him about it?

He couldn't think of one.

 **~~Eclipse~~**

It took an hour and twenty minutes, but Jaune's SP finally returned to full strength. He grinned lightly as he stood up, turning off the TV and stretching. All the aches and pains he'd felt were long gone, thanks to Gamer's Body no doubt. Though it had taken awhile to kick in, why was that? He shouldn't been been in such pain for long without some sort of status condition, right?

Shaking his head of those thoughts, he stood up and hummed. "Well…my initial plan was to work out near the Library than read, but that doesn't sound like the best idea ever…instead I think I'll head towards the gym first, and work out until I'm at about 20 stamina, then head to the library! I'm sure I'm more likely to get more dexterity and strength that way rather than if I were to work out by myself."

A frown made its way onto his face as he rubbed his chin. "How do I best raise my Vitality…maybe I could ask someone at the Gym to do a few spars with me? It seems taking blows is what helps push my Vitality higher without using stat points…Charisma and Luck…those two will have to go neglected, working on my physical body in preparation for Beacon comes first…obviously treadmill to help with Dexterity, and stuff like weights for Strength…"

Nodding to himself, pleased, Jaune waited for the new wisdom notification to pop up, but it never did. He was actually somewhat relieved at that, whenever it gave him a point in that situation, he just felt as if the game was patronising him. And he did not appreciate it.

"Now my HP and AP…" Jaune frowned. "What I really need for those are something like regeneration skills. But how could I go about that..."

As if to help him, a new quest appeared before his eyes.

 **[Quest: Healing At Its Finest!]**

 **Description: You've got HP and MP, but they don't recover! Find out how you can get the skills to heal on their own!**

 **Reward: 500 Exp. 9 Levels to HP Regen. 9 Levels to MP Regen.**

 **Failure: 100 Exp, you are unable to attempt this quest again.**

 **Accept? Yes/No**

Jaune's eyes shot wide open. That…was certainly a nice deal, but the fact that if he failed he wouldn't be able to do the quest again _really_ sucked. But then again, it didn't seem like he was able to fail this quest. Maybe it was kind of like a story quest, he had no choice but to eventually complete it.

With that in mind, he accepted the quest and looked over his clothes. They wouldn't do since they were drenched with sweat. He headed to his room and changed into a pair of loose shorts and a tank top, before he sprayed antiperspirant over his body to help stop too much sweat. He grabbed a bag and filled it with a towel and a few bottles of water too, along with a fresh change of clothes. He began smiling as he was ready to head out.

He walked to the door to open it, only to blink as his sister Olivia opened the door. "We're ho-" she began to say, only to stop as she saw Jaune. More specifically, his bag and how he was dressed. "Jaune? Where are you going? And more importantly, why the heck are you even dressed like that?"

Jaune frowned at his sister, mumbling a quiet, "Observe," under his breath as he focused on his sister.

 **["The Rebellion" Olivia Arc]** **  
** **Level: ?** **  
** **HP: ?** **  
** **AP: ?** **  
** **Information: ?**

 **[Observe's level has gone up by 1!]**

A groan nearly escaped his lips. Of _course_ his older sister would be a higher level than he was, especially when Alice was level seventeen. He was really going to have to head back to the forest at some point and kill some more Grimm in order to get his level to something more reasonable for his age. At least above Alice's.

"I'm going to the gym," Jaune eventually told his sister. "I realised I've been slacking off too much, and it's time I got my ass in gear and began training. I have two years until Beacon, which means two years until I have to do my best to pass the entrance exam. And you _know_ it isn't easy, mom and dad told us so."

Olivia blinked in surprise before scoffing and scowling at him. "Oh please. You'll go one day and come running home after an hour to your precious video games."

Jaune growled under his breath and shoved past her. "Don't talk like you know me, Olivia," he snarled at her as he marched out the house, ignoring the calls of his family as he headed towards the gym.

He didn't know what his older sister's issue was with him, and quite frankly he stopped caring awhile ago. Ever since he was seven, Olivia had acted like such a jerk to him for no reason. He hadn't even done anything wrong that he could think of. And if he had, so what! He was _seven_! Like he'd meant any harm if he had done something back then!

Quickly shaking his head of those thoughts, Jaune continued to press on towards the gym, a determined look in his eyes. He'd show Olivia just how serious he was about being a huntsman! He'd show her just how far he was willing to go to achieve his dream!

Arriving at the gym, he wasn't too surprised to find out he had to sign up for a membership. He was glad the deal was good too, twenty lien for half a year, though it was free if you were a student at Signal or Beacon. Jaune had clicked his tongue hearing that, wishing he'd been able to sign up for Signal. But alas, he'd missed his chance and would instead have to wait two more years, for when he could attend Beacon Academy.

He headed to the locker room and pushed his stuff into a locker, pulling out two bottles of water, before he headed into the gym area, ready to train his hardest.

As he walked into the area, he was only mildly surprised by the amount of people there. It was packed full of people training, though there was still plenty of room for him thankfully. He did his best not to look at the girls, his mother always told him to be respectful and not stare at girls, no matter how attractive they might be.

Heading over to a treadmill, he slipped his water bottles into place and turned it on. He closed his eyes in thought about how fast he wanted to go. Deciding to start off small and go up as he went, he set it to slowly increase from one mph to fifteen mph. He then hit go, and began a slow walk as the treadmill started up.

He was vaguely aware of the eyes that glanced at him as his slow walk turned into a jog, which turned into a run, which soon became a full sprint. And as the number of miles per hour went up, he kept running faster so he could match it.

 **[You have discovered a new level of 'speed,' causing your dexterity to go up by one!]**

 **[You have discovered a new level of 'speed,' causing your dexterity to go up by one!]**

 **[You have discovered a new level of 'speed,' causing your dexterity to go up by one!]**

By the time he'd hit thirteen miles per hour, his dexterity had already jumped up by three. Even he was surprised with how fast he was without his Sprint skill active. Though he knew that he was still lagging behind, a grown male could run at twenty seven miles an hour, so he still had a long way to go before he reached that level of speed.

Glancing up in the corner, he saw his stamina was sitting at around three-hundred, so he had the machine slow down steadily and come to a stop. He still wanted to increase his strength after all.

Opening one of his water bottles, he took a long drink, before he coughed a few times, surprise coming over his face at the sight of a new notification in front of him.

 **You have drunk some water! +10 recovered SP!**

 _Water can recover my SP? Then why the hell can't food restore my health or something-_

 **[System Update!]**

 **Food and water will now recover HP, MP, and SP!**

Jaune's eye twitched violently as he swiped the screen out of the way, before freezing, glancing around. Nobody seemed to have noticed what he'd done, despite them looking at him. That was weird. Did people outside the game not notice when he did something related to it? If so, that was going to make using the game much easier from now on.

With that in mind, he headed over to the now empty bench, checking the weights. They were sitting at around 95 pounds, which he guessed was a good way to start off his strength training. He lay back on the bench and was about to begin, before a voice stopped him.

"Hey, you need a spotter?" glancing up, his jaw very nearly dropped as he saw a gorgeous woman standing above him. She had long, wavy golden hair, lilac eyes, and a grin on her lips. She was dressed in an orange tank top that stopped half way down her stomach, and a pair of black shorts with orange lining.

"That would be appreciated," he said, quickly regaining his bearings. He wouldn't stare, it was very rude of him to do so. And with that in mind, he began to bench press, the girl staying in his sight with a grin on her lips, almost teasing in a way. He whispered under his breath as he mentally counted the reps, "Observe."

 **["Dragon on the Sun's Surface" Yang Xiao Long]** **  
** **Level: 31** **  
** **HP: 3700/3700** **  
** **AP: 2500/2500** **  
** **SP: 1450/2800** **  
** **Information: The daughter of Raven Branwen and Taiyang Xiao Long, as well as the older half-sister of Ruby Rose. She is currently in her second year of Signal, and plans to attend Beacon Academy once she's finished her training. Her greatest asset is her strength.**

What was with that HP and SP!? They were gigantic in size, it was almost insane! He was about a third of her level, yet her health was over triple what his was! And her SP was over five times the size of his! How in the heck was that fair for a level thirty-one!?

Still, he did his best to not react as he saw her profile. "So, what's your name?" he asked in an attempt to make conversation with her.

"Aw, gonna try sweet talking me blondie?" Yang asked him with a huge, teasing grin on her lips.

"While you are beautiful," he freely admitted. "Sweet talking has never been my forte, so I think I'm gonna pass on that one. I know when I'm pushing my luck."

 **[You have created the skill 'Flirting' through a special act!]**

 **[By smooth talking with skill, your Charisma has gone up by 3!]**

Really game? Right now? He didn't need this! And why the heck was his Charisma going up from that!?

"Oh?" Yang raised an eyebrow. "Smooth blondie, I'll give you that. The name's Yang Xiao Long, and can I ask why you're talking _Xiao Long_ to introduce yourself?"

Jaune blinked slowly, stopping at the 20th rep as his mind slowly processed the pun that she'd just made.

 **[By pushing your limits, your strength has gone up by 1!]**

Finally, Jaune snorted as he set the bar back in its place and sat up, smirking at her. "Okay, that was a pretty good one, I'll give you that," he offered his hand to her. "I'm Jaune, Jaune Arc. Not to be mistaken with John."

Yang grinned as she shook his hand. "Looks like my life just entered its next _Arc_."

An amused snort came from Jaune's lips. He'd heard people making fun of his name before, but he'd never heard his last name turned into a pun. It was pretty funny, he wasn't gonna lie. "You are pretty inventive," he told her. "I'm honestly impressed with how quick you came up with that."

 **[Flirting's level has gone up by 1!]**

 **[Flirting's level has gone up by 1!]**

 **[Flirting's level has gone up by 1!]**

 **[Flirting's level has gone up by 1!]**

 **[By smooth talking with skill, your Charisma has gone up by 2!]**

Jaune blinked in surprise, unable to comprehend what the heck he'd just seen. That one line got him four levels to flirting, and got him an extra two charisma! There was no way that was actually working, right? The game was just messing with him again, right?

"And here I thought you weren't gonna sweet talk me," she told him with a smirk. "So, why are you here? I don't recognise you from Signal, and you look like you're in my year, so why are you training so hard?"

"I want to be a huntsman," Jaune responded automatically, before blinking a little and elaborating. "I kinda missed out on my chance to enter Signal, and I feel like transferring now would make it way too late for me. So I'm just doing outside training and I'm going to apply for Beacon next year."

"Aw man, why didn't I think of that!?" Yang whined to herself. "I could have skipped four years and still had a bunch of fun outside of school! Man, I'm dumb!"

"Well I mean, I think what I'm doing is probably harder than signal," he told her in an attempt to help. "You have teachers and stuff at Signal. I have to teach myself all the material you guys have, and train by myself without instruction. Plus I don't really have anyone to spar with to see what needs improving, you see?"

Humming, Yang tilted her head a little. "I guess that makes sense…man am I glad I chose Signal then," she grinned at him widely. "So, you need a sparring partner? Why not me? I could use a good fight!"

"In a little while," Jaune told her. "Let me do a bit more benching first, if that's fine?"

"Go ahead. You need more weights?"

He did. And at a hundred-fifteen pounds and thirty reps later, Jaune had managed to increase his strength by another two, which meant he was sitting pretty at fourteen base strength. Yang gave him a minute to get his strength back up, which he appreciated as he took a long drink of water. It seemed longer swigs helped, as he recovered twenty of his SP from the drink.

"You all good to go?" Yang asked him, climbing into one of the sparring rings as she got into a boxer like stance, starting to bounce on the balls of her feet.

 **[Quest: Against the Dragon!]**

 **Description: She's a lean, mean, fighting machine! And now you have to take her on, just make sure she doesn't kill you by accident!**

 **Goals: Last five minutes against Yang Xiao Long**

 **Reward: 2000 Exp, 2 New Skills**

 **Failure: You die, sorry**

 **Accept? Yes/No**

Jaune frowned a little as the 'no' was greyed out, meaning he had no choice. He also didn't like the 'death' that came with failing this quest. But he tapped yes and climbed into the ring, standing opposite her. "Do go easy on me, will you?"

Yang laughed lightly. "Oh don't worry, I'll take it nice and-"

"Darkness Claw," Jaune's voice came, and Yang was surprised to see what looked like pure darkness forming above his hand and become ethereal wolverine claws as he charged at her, swinging towards her.

Yang quickly moved back, to dodge the attack, a grin on her lips. "Jeez, you sure are aggressive…huh?" she stopped as she saw a single strand of her golden hair land on the ground between her and Jaune. "You…" Yang growled as she blinked, her eyes turning into a crimson red, and her hair flaring up behind her. "You _bastard_!" she screamed as she charged at him, rearing her arm back as she punched him square in the stomach.

Jaune's eyes widened and he coughed heavily in pain as new notifications appeared before his eyes.

 **HP -300** **  
** **AP -150**

 **['Pain Tolerance' has gone up 3 Levels!]**

 **['Physical Endurance' has gone up 5 levels!]**

 **[Aura's level has gone up by 1! Max AP +100!]**

Yep, he'd messed up. But despite this he managed to back up and get into a stance and prepared to defend himself against the onslaught that was coming his way.

And the whole time, he couldn't help but stare into those crimson eyes.


End file.
